YIVO Press Releases

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Neil W. Levin as the Anne E. Leibowitz Visiting Professor in Residence in Music for the Spring semester, February – May 2017, marking YIVO’s first such academic residence in music.

The blood libel accusation of Jews committing ritual murder has been the basis for some of the most hateful examples of organized antisemitism around the world since its fabrication in the Middle Ages. This conference will explore the impact of the blood libel over the centuries in a wide variety of geographic regions with a focus on how cultural memory was created, elaborated, and transmitted.

Professor Dauber will discuss the life, work, and legacy of the great Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (Sholem Rabinovitsh) and the difficulties Dauber faced in writing the first comprehensive biography about the author.

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is opening a new exhibition: Classic Yiddish Writers in Caricature. The exhibition showcases caricature portrayals of Yiddish’s “Di klasiker” – the three classic authors of Yiddish literature, Mendele Moykher-Sforim (S.Y. Abramovitsh), Y.L. Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem (Sholem Rabinovitsh).

YIVO and Columbia University co-host a conference on modern Yiddish theater and performance. Participants will assess the newest digital archival resources for research in the field and consider women's experiences.

The 2016 Uriel Weinreich Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture begins its 49th consecutive year. One of the largest classes in years, the 2016 cohort has students ages 13-70 from four continents around the world. The program will be held June 27th to August 5th, 2016 at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

On Wednesday July 13th, noted academic Ken Frieden (Syracuse University) will be appearing at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011) at 6:00pm to talk about the centrality of translation to the emergence of modern Jewish literature.

For Russian Heritage Month, YIVO and the Russian American Foundation host a two-night film festival featuring documentaries depicting the era of the Russian cultural migration and the people who defined it.

The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania has awarded 30,000 Euros for work in Lithuania for the Vilna Collections Project.

Reviving a partnership dating back to just after WWII, Yad Vashem becomes an institutional partner on the YIVO Vilna Collections project.